By MICHELLE BEAHM
and SARA N. MILLER
DOWNTOWN POULSBO — “Painting is like a universal, fun thing,” Dancing Brush employee Maddie Dayley said. “Even if you’re not good at it, it’s still fun to do.”
Growing up, Dayley visited Dancing Brush, and still owns pottery she painted there, including a light switch plate. She said as a kid, she thought “it would be super fun to work here.”
“And it is,” she said.
Dancing Brush, located on Front Street in downtown Poulsbo, doesn’t just sell pottery: it grants everybody the opportunity to let some creativity out, painting their own pottery in whatever style they want.
From skull towers to coffee mugs, plates to Spider-Man boxes, there’s something for everyone.
“I think, especially in this town, in Poulsbo, there are a lot of small, starting families, with the base nearby,” Dayley said. “So it’s really fun to bring your kid around. This is a really kid-friendly place, so people enjoy that.”
But owner Kevin Veatch said people with young children probably aren’t the majority of Dancing Brush customers.
“You would think that our main customer base would be kids, but it’s actually not true,” Veatch said. “It’s mostly adults, age 20 to 40. … and it’s mostly people who don’t have a reputation for being artists themselves. Just regular people.”
Veatch paints at Dancing Brush, either in Poulsbo or Ballard, and said he has a rotating collection of hand-painted coffee mugs.
“It’s really good for people to explore their creative side,” Veatch said, “and in a world where we usually consume the creations of other people … Dancing Brush is a place where you actually can produce your own work.”
He added the social aspect of Dancing Brush is a reason people enjoy it. He said Dancing Brush provides a unique social setting where people can talk as much as they want, or be as quiet as they want. He contrasted it to getting coffee with friends — where conversation is expected — and going to the movies — where there is no talking at all.
“This is sort of the middle, between talking and not talking. I think that’s cool,” Veatch said. “I think that’s kind of a profound thing. There’s not many things you can do in our culture like that.”
Dayley, too, spends her free time painting pottery. She said she prefers plates, because “they are like a really good, blank canvas. Mugs are fun to have, but plates are really fun to paint.”
Dayley said she likes to do art as a hobby, and if you walk through the studio in Poulsbo, you’ll have the opportunity to see examples of her work.
She utilized one of her favorite techniques, the scratch technique, to do portraits of Jimi Hendrix and Mark Twain, both currently on display.
Ironically, her portrait of Mark Twain is accompanied with a quote from him: “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.”
“I like to have good examples up there so people know that I’m not just winging it,” Dayley explained.
Dayley, along with the rest of the Dancing Brush employees, aren’t just there to supervise. They can and will happily teach painters new techniques.
Dayley’s favored scratch technique includes painting a base color, covering it up completely with black paint, then scraping away the black to reveal the color beneath in strategic patterns.
“The scratch technique gives me a lot more control than a paint brush, because it’s more like a pencil,” Dayley said, “but you have to work backwards with shadows. Instead of scratching and coloring in the dark shadows, you have to color out the light shadows and the light parts.”
She also enjoys the bubble technique, which involves mixing paint with dish soap, and using a straw to blow the paint onto the pottery “like you’re blowing chocolate milk out of your cup.”
“It’s so whimsical,” Dayley said. “If you’re somebody that really loves the unknown kind of art projects, the bubble technique is perfect, because it’s never going to show up the way that you think it will.”
But there are many more techniques that can be taught.
“If you had an idea that you really want to do, but you weren’t sure how to do it, we would be able to help you out,” Dayley said. “We have a whole bunch of techniques that we could show you, based on what we think would look best with your design.”
Dayley said the techniques tend to be “straightforward,” and “you can teach anybody to do them.”
She added that she enjoys helping people with their project because she “can feel connected to it.”
“When they come in and pick [their projects] up, I can say, ‘I remember your piece, and it looks super cool,’ “ Dayley said. “Ican be invested with it the whole way through.
“I really love connecting with people and their projects like that.”
And if you don’t have a clear idea what you want to do, she can help with that too, from pulling up images on the internet for inspiration, or printing off logos to sketch from. If you want to paint a combination Central Perk (Friends) and Slytherin coffee mug, Dancing Brush can help with that.
Veatch said that the end result, following a clear glaze overcoat and firing in the studio kilns, “almost always turns out better than they thought.”
“(Customers) have such enthusiasm about their finished piece,” Veatch said. “Almost 100 percent of the time, there’s surprise at how it looks.”
Dayley said, “I think (Dancing Brush) is a really good place to come and hang out.
“I’ve had people come in and say that they come in to help with their anxiety or their PTSD, and it’s a soothing environment that people can be friendly in.”
Other create-ive places
Kitsap Mosaics and Bistro, 18827 Front St. NE. Make your own creations using glass, tiles and more. There is also a wine bar and bistro, as well as children’s activities. kitsapmosaics.com.
Amanda’s Art-Yarn, 18846 E Front St.. Weave, knit, crochet, spin. Yarns and fibers, books, needles, buttons and classes available to help you create something uniquely “you.” amandasartyarn.com.
The Quilt Shoppe, 19020 Front St. NE. Offers programs to help people make their own quilts. Fabric, embroidery, kits, patterns and other supplies available for purchase. thequiltshoppepoulsbo.com.
More: visitpoulsbo.com.
